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Bridger Bowl

Sidecountry is becoming the new norm for nabbing untracked powder. As technology and open-boundary policies make it easier for us to enjoy the wild snow, proper backcountry behavior is still on a learning curve, with momentum gaining slowly.

A recent avalanche ripped Bridger Bowl, Montana's slack country to the ground. We spoke with Eric Knoff, an avy forecaster at the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center, about the fact that tracks don't mean a slope is safe (there were over 200 tracks on the face that slid). This slide was skier triggered, but nobody was caught by the slide. Special thanks to the GNFAC for the photos.

Schlasman’s (pronounced Slushman’s) lift opened in December 2008 and accesses 300 acres and 1,700 feet of steep terrain. It’s more skier-friendly (translation: fewer places to get cliffed out) than the rest of Bridger Bowl’s gnarly Ridge, but beacons are required and nothing is marked. Case in point? Last season, patrol regularly performed rope rescues here.